Lost in the Darkness
by Cyanne
Summary: A retelling of "The Beginning of Rainbowland," told from Patty's POV.


DISCLAIMER: RAINBOW BRITE, RAINBOWLAND, AND ALL CHARACTERS CONTAINED THEREIN ARE HE PROPERTY OF HALLMARK, INC. I DO NOT OWN THEM AND AM RECEIVING NO PROFIT (THOUGH IT WOULD BE NICE...) THIS WORK OF FICTION IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE FANS OF THIS CLASSIC EIGHTIES SHOW (ESPECIALLY THE RAINBOW BRITE MAILING LIST!)   
  
  
  
LOST IN THE DARKNESS   
(A PROLOGUE)   
By Cyanne   
  
She'd been in many forests in her long lifetime, but never one this loud. Or this dark.   
The Tangled Forest was not so much named for the gnarled branches and twisted limbs that dipped and swayed in the constant gale, as much for the sound of voices, many voices, ghostly voices, all swirled and tangled together. Sometimes one might catch a word--never a pleasant one, wailing agony and frustration--but most of the time comprehension was swept away like a leaf, a dead brown leaf in the wind. All the leaves in this forest were brown, the tree trunks were a sickly gray, the sky was black, there were no stars. Just the wind. It was like starving.   
Patty had long ceased to keep track of the amount of time she'd been imprisoned here. There was no sunrise and no sunset, no sun at all, so noon and midnight always looked exactly the same. Always the wind blew, always the thunder crashed, always the birds screeched a sound that made your spine go numb. Always there were the wind voices.   
The voices were stranger than usual today. Once in a while one seemed to swoop right up to her, startling her with its closeness and its--warmth? No, it had to be another illusion. Just another way for the Evil One to torture her. Patty was determined not to let him break her, not completely. However long he'd keep her banished here, without light or color, she could always hold on to one single thread, thin and frail as it might be...the Prophecy.   
She'd heard it all her life, which was already quite long. She could recite it from memory, and often did, to keep herself sane. Someday a great darkness would sweep over and bury the land for nine-hundred midnights. (This had already happened, Patty decided). But, as darkness cannot exist without light to contrast, someday light would return to this world, the rainbow would be freed, the yoke of darkness broken. The land would be free again, but only until the next cycle. Everything had a cycle, what must go up, must come down, what must be light, must be dark. She'd never quite understood that part. But she had understood that each time the light returned, there must be one chosen to wield it. She must follow that person.   
There it was again. Strange, lighter voices on the wind. Patty sat up, listening, brushing away the coarse straw of the nest beneath her, not even noticing when the sharp grains scraped her flesh. She was beyond feeling; there were more important things than pain here. This had to be another trick. She strained her ears.   
The ground shook beneath the nest, rocking it back and forth on the flimsy tree that provided only minimal security from the monsters of the forest. Patty clung for dear life to the side of the nest, half-hoping, as she did every time, that the nest would be dislodged and fall to the ground. Then, she could run away--but to where? There was no safe place to go, not anymore.   
But, as it happened every time, the nest remained firmly gripped by the twigs of the dead tree. She did not know whether to be happy or sad. If those emotions could exist here anymore.   
From somewhere far away yet near, she heard another crashing sound. Was it that two- headed dragon who inhabited this forest? She'd seen it flying overhead a couple of times, but it had never approached the nest. The Bird kept it away.   
More voices, closer this time. She felt a twinge of icy fear. What new horror had the Evil One dreamed up now? To torture her with voices like her own...despite herself, Patty leaned out of the nest, searching the forest floor for the source of the strange sounds.   
It was something big, and white. Patty blinked as the object came into the clearing around her tree. It was a horse, pure, clean white. In the darkness and menace of the forest, it seemed to glow.   
On the horse's back were three people--well, two people and a small furry creature--a sprite, she remembered them! She saw them every so often, usually running in terror from the lightening. But what was it doing with two girls on the back of a horse?   
"I don't believe it..." Patty gasped, her mouth going dry.   
"It's Patty!" It was Canary Yellow's voice, still as sunny as the days when there had been sunshine, shining up to where she sat, dumbfounded, almost blinded by the light of Color-- something she'd wondered if she'd ever see again. The yellow girl waved to her from the white horse, hanging onto the girl in front of her, a stranger with long pale hair.   
Something was tossed up at her, something sparkling--and red. A red star sprinkle! She watched it hover in the air, mesmerized by the familiar glow. Could this mean that mean Red had been freed as well? Even the thought of the pushy, overbearing, leader of the Color Kids made Patty's eyes sting. It was too wonderful, she'd die all over again if it was one of the Evil One's tricks!   
And then there was another sound, an even more familiar, terrifying sound.   
The Bird was coming back. She heard its snarl, felt the cold air its wings beat back as it propelled itself toward home. And her.   
  
Canary and the strange girl heard the Bird as well, the long-haired girl gasped and pointed. Patty braced herself in the nest. In all the time she'd been a prisoner here (millennia it seemed), the Bird had never made an attempt to eat her. It screeched, it lashed her with its long gray tongue, it beat her with its wings, but never had those long, icy fangs come close enough to harm her.   
That didn't mean she was any less frightened.   
Suddenly everything began to shake. The nest rocked back and forth, swinging wider than it had in the fiercest gale. Patty was caught off guard, and nearly tumbled out of the nest. There were voices below, shouting. The two girls and the sprite were gone; the white horse stood alone, gazing up at her pityingly. The tree swung and swung. The Bird, angry (when was it not?), screamed and charged the tree. Only then did Patty realize that the girl and Canary, with the help of the sprite, were shaking the tree.   
She heard the creature swoop down--what an awful sound those wings made!--then felt the tree lurch back, connect with something, and swing back again. The Bird gave a long, horrible shriek that was carried away by the wind, and then there was--relative--silence.   
"Can you climb down?" someone shouted.   
Patty, dazed, looked down at her rescuers. "I can get down," she replied, the frailness of her own voice startling her. She was shaking from head to foot. Gingerly, she swung one leg over the side of the nest and wound it around the tree, followed by the other leg. Then she shimmied down, slowly at first, then faster, eager to finally meet the ground. "I'll never forget how to climb a tree," she remembered saying, half a lifetime ago, to someone... Buddy...   
~Have you been freed, too?~   
  
"Patty!" Canary cried, throwing her thin arms around Patty for a tight embrace. Patty returned it absently, still trying to reorient herself to freedom.   
"My name is Wisp," the long-haired girl said, offering a hand.   
"Patty O'Green," Patty replied, shaking the girl's warm, strong hand. "I guess I don't need to tell you what color I'm in charge of."   
Wisp smiled and shook her head.   
"Have you found Buddy Blue yet?" Patty asked eagerly.   
Wisp blinked in puzzlement. "Who's Buddy Blue?"   
"The blue Color Kid," Canary chimed helpfully.   
Wisp shook her head. "So far it's just you, Canary Yellow, and Red Butler. He's waiting back at the Color Cave."   
Canary clapped her hands. "Oh, that's wonderful! Red is our leader."   
"No one else has the arrogance," Patty murmured to herself, disappointed. So Buddy was still out there somewhere, banished by the darkness, as they had all been...   
She was startled out of her reverie when Wisp giggled. It took Patty a moment to realize that the other girl had heard her muttered comment about Red.   
"Speaking of Red," Wisp said, still grinning, "he's probably getting anxious waiting for us. Shall we have Starlight take us back?"   
"Starlight?" Patty looked at the horse, who inclined his head politely. ~He had a different name before...~ she thought. But she could not remember what his name had been. In fact, it was extremely hard to remember anything before her banishment, though she was sure she'd had a life before...hadn't she?   
Patty shook her head slightly, ridding herself of the troubling thoughts. "Yes, let's go back."   
  
Red was waiting for them outside a large gray mountain that looked nothing like the rainbowy cave that she remembered from Before. His eyes were eager, and as he took in the two familiar faces, a genuine grin spread across his face.   
Patty and Canary leapt off the white horse and ran into his waiting arms. As they touched, something chimed between them; the welcoming of their colors, united again. It was so amazing to be held again, to be with familiar faces, Patty thought, even if one of them was Red Butler.   
"It's so good to see you guys again," Red exclaimed, echoing their thoughts. "It's good to see color again!"   
"You can say that again," Wisp said, gently climbing down from Starlight. "You three seem almost to glow in this awful gloominess."   
"Is there still color crystal in there?" Patty asked, looking dubiously at the cave.   
Red nodded excitedly. "It hasn't decayed like I thought. There's a whole bunch of red crystal right near where I was imprisoned. I'm sure there's plenty of yellow and green as well."   
"Well, let's get started then!" Canary said rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "It'll be so nice just to do something normal like mining color crystal again!"   
"We'll be back soon with the rest of the Color Kids," Starlight said, speaking for the first time in Patty's presence. ~Of course, I should have remember that he could talk~ she reminded herself.   
Wisp nodded and looked at Red, her expression serious. "When I send you a signal, come to the dark castle with all the Star Sprinkles you can carry."   
"What are you going to do?" Patty asked, alarmed by Wisp's grim expression.   
"I'm going to do what I came here to do."   
Canary looked as if she wanted to ask, "what's that?" but Red shook his head furtively in her direction. "We'll be ready, Wisp!" he promised.   
  
"She's the one, then," Patty said once Wisp and Starlight had galloped away.   
"She has to be," Red replied. "She found the belt."   
"Or the belt found her," Patty added, staring absently into the darkness into which Wisp and Starlight had rode. ~When she rides back, maybe Buddy will be with her~   
Red read her thoughts easily. "I'm sorry, Patty," he spoke quietly. "We still don't know where Buddy is."   
Canary put a soft hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Patty, Wisp will find him--and Lala, Indigo, and Violet, too."   
"She can't find him if she doesn't know where to look," Patty reminded them, crossing her arms.   
Red narrowed his eyes. "Do you know?"   
"Have you found any blue color crystal?" she asked him.   
  
After about half an hour of searching, they found a few fragments of deep blue crystal in a corner of the gloomy cave. When she saw it, Patty felt an ache in her chest, but she held herself firm. She took the blue fragments, then picked up a larger piece of green crystal, and carried them outside the cave.   
Abruptly all of them noticed that it was noticeably lighter outside. "Look!" Red pointed. "The moon!"   
"It's so beautiful," Canary sighed. "I haven't seen it in so long."   
Patty set the blue and green crystal beside each other on the ground. She touched her finger tips to the green one, and almost immediately, it began to glow slightly, then more strongly. Red and Canary watched in fascination.   
Patty slowly brought the glowing green crystal over to touch the blue, and closed her eyes, concentrating. ~Buddy, if you can hear me...~   
Her awareness seemed to stretch out, lengthen, flow outward through the darkness, searching for another life force, the color so close to her own--   
--pain, horrible anguish--   
--terror, a loud crash like rolling waves--   
--agony--   
--and then, she saw it--   
"Buddy!" she gasped, and felt a flicker, the faintest flicker of recognition. "Buddy!" she called again, and suddenly the touch was gone, lost in the darkness.   
"No..." it came out as a sob, and her body crumpled to the ground. Dimly, she heard Red shouting her name, then Canary's...   
A touch of water on her lips, forehead. Her eyelids fluttered, and flew open. Before she even recalled the vision, tears were streaming down her cheeks.   
"Patty, what did you see?" Red asked, helping her to sit up.   
Patty swallowed over the huge lump in her throat. "He's hurt, ill, or something. His light-- his color is so weak..."   
Canary had tears in her eyes as well. "He must be someplace horrible! Poor Buddy!"   
Red gave her a stern look, then turned back to Patty. "Wisp will find him, wherever he is. We have to believe that. Remember the Prophecy." A pause. "It's bad for us, too," he added softly. "We need all the colors here."   
Patty looked up at him, willing the horrible vision away.   
Red went on, "But there's nothing we can do right now but gather up the star sprinkles. Wisp's going to need us when she takes on the Evil One."   
"She's going to take on the Evil One?!" Canary gasped. Patty felt a twinge of fear.   
"Of course," Red said, his usual authoritative tone softened with his own concern. "It's what she was brought here to do. To save us."   
  
While Red and Canary were busy mining for color crystal, Patty's attention wandered. She put down her small pick axe--they had found a few lying around, probably where the sprites had dropped them in alarm when the darkness came to claim the land--and left the cave, after first making sure Red and Canary were too busy to notice her absence. The moon shone down, curiously brighter than she remembered; she wondered if it might have something to do with Wisp's arrival. She wondered what Wisp had thought of the world she had come to save, and why she had done it.   
Her eyes fell upon the blue and green crystal fragments she had left on the ground after her vision. She bent down and picked up the green fragment, feeling its warmth as it responded to her touch, then, without quite knowing why, she touched it to the blue once more, bracing herself.   
~Buddy, I know you can hear me...wherever you are...~   
She closed her eyes.   
--a rumbling, crackling sound, like thunder in the distance--   
--a vehicle, choking smoke and screeching--   
--fear, and a faint touch...reaching out to her, or to anyone at all--   
Patty's eyes flew open. Murky Dismal! She did not wonder how Murky had survived the takeover of the darkness, managed to survive when everything else in their world had died. All that mattered was that he had Buddy, and probably the other Color Kids as well. ~Wisp doesn't know, he'll take them somewhere she'll never find them~ And if Buddy was still weak, as she had sensed earlier--she shuddered at the memory--he wouldn't last much longer...   
Not without her help.   
And then she knew what she had to do.   
~He's in no condition...but I am strong~   
She closed her eyes once more, still touching the crystals together, and a green glow began to surround her, engulf her, strengthening and growing, slowly but surely darkening...   
Until it was blue.   
  
When Red and Canary came out of the cave, they were startled to see the unconscious form of Buddy Blue, lying on the ground near the star sprinkles Patty had left.   
"What in the--" Red choked off the question. "Come on!"   
"How did Buddy get here?" Canary cried, running after him to Buddy's side. "Patty, come quick!" she called. "Patty, Buddy's back! He's here!"   
"He's unconscious," Red fumbled for the small container of water they had given Patty and put it to Buddy's dry lips. Buddy's face was terribly pale, with deep circles under his eyes and dirt smudged on his cheeks. Or were those bruises?   
"He's so cold!" Canary exclaimed, feeling his forehead.   
Buddy's eyelids fluttered, and he coughed, trying to sit up. Red pushed him back down firmly.   
"Buddy, it's Red. Can you hear me?"   
Buddy's eyes opened fully, a deep cerulean hue that reassured them. "Red..." he whispered, his voice raspy and weak. "What am I..."   
"Don't try to talk, you're in pretty bad shape." Red allowed himself to smile, glad to see his friend aware.   
Buddy eyes found Canary, and he spoke her name, smiling faintly.   
"It's good to see you again, Buddy," said Canary, grinning from ear to ear.   
Buddy blinked, tried to speak again. His eyes moved to the area behind them, around them. "Is...is Patty here?"   
Only then did Red and Canary realize that Patty had not come running when they called her; that she was, in fact, nowhere to be found.   
  
Patty blinked away the sting caused by the Grunge Buggy exhaust, coughed away the effect of the harsh smoke coming from the exhaust pipe that was right next to where she, Lala, and Indigo were bound. Through the haze, she could see someone approaching, a stranger with long pale hair. She was untying them.   
"My name is Wisp," the girl said. Then her eyes fell on Patty, and she blinked, several times. "Patty, I thought you were back at the Color Cave. How did you get here?"   
Patty looked at the girl curiously. "How do you know my name?"   
The girl's eyes widened. "Don't you remember? I freed you, from the tree in the Tangled Forest."   
Memory stirred, faintly. Patty stared at the girl, trying to recall something about her...had they met before? Her head throbbed, and her mouth was so dry it ached. She coughed away the smoke again, and shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't remember you."   
  
When Starlight brought Lala, Indigo and Patty back to the Color Cave, Red, Canary and a pale but now standing Buddy Blue were waiting outside the mouth of the cave. Patty's eyes met Buddy's, blue to blue, and they both smiled.   
Patty leapt off the horse, ignoring the aches and pains in her battered body. Buddy smiled as she approached, and tossed her a green bag, coughing a little even at that small effort.   
"I mined these for you while I was waiting. To get you started."   
The bag was full of green color crystal. "Thank you," she said. Then, keeping her voice low so the other Kids wouldn't hear, she asked, "Are you okay?"   
"Thanks to you," Buddy answered just as softly. He and Patty moved off, away from the group. "How did you--?" he trailed off.   
Patty's eyes filled with tears. "I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried.   
Buddy put his arms around her, enfolding her in a tight hug which she returned just as fiercely. "Hey, you of all people should know we can't be separated for long." She heard the smile in his words. "After all, you've just proved that."   
  
Starlight brought Shy Violet shortly thereafter, and she began to mine for color crystal with everyone else. When the signal from Wisp came a little while later, as one, all seven reunited Color Kids drew their colors toward the Shadow Castle, where the final battle was about to take place.   
  
THE BEGINNING 


End file.
